An experimental investigation of the heat losses of a U-type solar heat pipe receiver of a parabolic trough collector-based natural circulation steam generation system

Liang Zhang, Zitao Yu, Liwu Fan, Wujun Wang, Huan Chen, Yacai Hu, Jianren Fan, Mingjiang Ni and Kefa Cen

Renewable Energy, 2013, vol. 57, issue C, 262-268

Abstract: The performance of a parabolic trough collector (PTC)-based steam generation system depends significantly on the heat losses of the solar receiver. This paper presents an experimental study of the heat losses of a double glazing vacuum U-type solar receiver mounted in a PTC natural circulation system for generating medium-temperature steam. Field experiments were performed to determine the overall heat losses of the receiver. Effects of wind, vacuum glass tube, radiation, and structural characteristics on the heat losses were analyzed. The thermal efficiency of the receiver was found to be 0.791 and 0.472 in calm and windy days, respectively, at a test temperature of about 100°C, whereas the thermal efficiencies became 0.792 and 0.663, respectively, while taking the receiver element into consideration. The heat losses were increased from 0.183 to 0.255kW per receiver for the two cases tested. It was shown that neither convection nor radiation heat losses may be negligible in the analysis of such U-type solar receivers.

Keywords: U-type solar receiver; Heat losses; Parabolic trough collector; Natural circulation; Solar energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:57:y:2013:i:c:p:262-268

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.01.029

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